Motel theft sentence

Press, 13 February 1981, Page 5

Motel theft sentence

“This yvas one of your typically mean little offences,” Mr’ Justice Casey said in the High Court yesterday yvhen he sentenced Donald Cameron Forrester, aged 24, a prison inmate, to six months imprisonment to be served concurrently with his present term of 18 months for burglary. Last yveek a jury found Forrester guilty on a charge of theft of a handbag and contents valued at $220, the property of Shelagh Mary Easton. I • Evidence yvas given that a private investigator keeping watch in Papanui Road saw Forrester acting in a suspicious manner near motels. The police yvere called and a trail yvas folloyved to an open window in unit five of the Altair Lodge Motels. The unit yvas searched after the occupants yvere ayvakened but nothing seemed to be missing. It yvas not until the next morning that a yvoman found that her handbag containing about $lOO yvas missing from the chair beside her bed. The handbag yvas found nearby later but the money • yvas gone. Mr P. J. Rutledge, for Forrester, said that he had a lengthy list of comictions. It was apparent from the probation report that Forrester had had many difficulties in his early life. He asked that a concurrent term of imprisonment be imposed. His Honour said that he could not see that adding to Forrester’s present term of 18 months would make much difference to his future outlook and there seemed no point in making the term cumulative.